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Casa de Campo

Tee box view at Teeth of the Dog's signature 5th hole

The tanned lawyer from Houston trudged off the green at 18, an uphill 445-yard slight dogleg left around a pond, looking tired but noticeably contented. "This course beat me up," he said, "but I loved it."

They are lured by the bougainvillea and hibiscus, the balmy ocean breezes, and the outstanding international cuisine. But mostly, visitors come back year after year to Casa de Campo because of the golf.

Situated in La Romana on the southeast coast of the Dominican Republic, Casa de Campo (Spanish for "Country House") is a Ponderosa-style 7,000 acre tropical seaside resort with enough amenities to challenge the most hyperventilated vacationer.

But guests are equally induced to relax at this resort, which offers one of the best bargains on any Conde Nast recommended list. Furthermore, with its own international airport right on site, getting to Casa is easy. American Airlines has daily non-stops from San Juan and Miami. Santo Domingo airport, an hour and quarter’s drive to the east, offers jet service from other points of departure.

Casa golf is all about Pete Dye, who has a magnificent villa here and calls the Dominican Republic his true heartland. On property is the private La Romana Country Club course, a terrific upland Dye layout accessible to guests at certain early-morning hours. The resort’s golf club includes the Links, a moderately hilly Dye track featuring tall bahia and guinea grass rough, ample sand and lakes with wading birds. At various points around the course, you can see the ocean at a distance over the pastel rooftops of the villas lining the fairways.

If the resort golf club only had the Links Course, it would be a worthy golf destination. But Casa de Campo also has the Teeth of the Dog, which, according to Director of Golf Gilles Gagnon, is THE class of the Caribbean. Ranked #23 in the world by Golf Magazine, this Dye classic stretches up to 6941 yards through citrus, flamboyant and coconut palm trees and along the rocky coastline. Host to the 1974 World Amateur Team Championship and regular regional competitions, the course recently gained mass exposure through the 1994 televised Shell’s Wonderful World of Golf match between Freddie Couples and Ray Floyd.

The golf course features seven ocean holes, each scenic enough to grace the cover of any golf magazine. Flanked by the sea on the left, the front side’s ocean holes trek back toward the clubhouse beginning with #5. This signature hole of 153 yards requires a short iron carry over water to a sloping green smack beside the rocks and beach.

The resort took a direct hit from Hurricane Gorges, which toppled the tall sea grape tree that guarded the green front right. The loss, some claim, took the bite out of the hole, but Gagnon thinks the hole is actually better now, since the tree forced players to thread an impossibly narrow opening to the green. Still, it is a knee-knocker.

The 6th is an uphill 450-yard slight dogleg left. The sea comes into play off the tee but the hole veers slightly away from the Caribbean as it meanders toward the large tiered green. From the back teebox especially, the 225-yard 7th requires your best shot partially over water to a green that looks like part of the beach. The green is guarded left and right by bunkers and right by grass bunkers and ornery rough.

The best hole on the front may be the 8th, a slightly uphill left-hand dogleg of 417 yards to an L-shaped seaside green with a deep valley-like grass bunker back right. It is extremely difficult to stop the ball on this green which slopes away from the fairway. And regardless of which leg of the L the pin is located on, the target is essentially half the green.

Wayward shots are also unwelcome on the entire back side, but particularly on
the stretch of #13-#17. The 186-yard 13th requires a medium to long iron to a large green completely enclosed by sand. The 505-yard dogleg right 14th can be reached in two, but the second shot must avoid the large lake on the right and trees guarding the green on the left.

Hole 15 starts the trio of backside ocean holes, all of which have the sea on the right. Perhaps the most scenic on the course, #15 is a dogleg right par 4 of 384 yards. You drive from a tee box directly on the water to a slightly elevated fairway that slopes right gently toward the waste bunker and beach beyond. The short-iron approach shot is to a well bunkered green that looks from a distance as if it is sitting on a peninsula.

Though only 185 yards, the par 3 16th requires a long iron or wood because the wind here is usually in your face. It is all carry over water to an elevated and severely sloped green sitting on a seaside ledge. The green is liberally bunkered, and with trees on the left there is virtually no margin for error. Heavy artillery is needed to par the dogleg right 435-yard 17th. Attempts to cut the dogleg too closely usually result in balls winding up in a waste bunker, heavy rough or the rocky beach which stretches the entire length of the hole.

While railroad ties are scarcely visible on the Teeth, all the other Dye trademarks wait in ambush--waste bunkers, contoured greens, elevated greens, devilishly positioned trees, and angles and framing that deceive the eye. There are even two holes where you drive across the runway of the local airport.

These obstacles are difficult enough but when the strong trade winds kick up without warning, as they frequently do, you’d best be mentally and physically sharp and make wise club decisions. Not to fear, help is available from caddies with A, B and C ratings who are eager to guide you over the terrain.

Speaking of terrain, the golf course site was once entirely composed of coral rock and limestone. In his book, Bury Me in a Pot Bunker, Dye offers a fascinating history of the course, called Dientes del Perro (Teeth of the Dog) after the name the locals gave to the sharp coral rock.

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Alan B. Nichols is a professional golf-travel writer residing in Bethesda, MD.
He is the featured golf-travel writer for GolfLink. Alan appreciates your
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